


20 Minute Elevator Ride

by friendlyrejection



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Elevators, Father-Daughter Relationship, Math, do you ever have a good morning and then like a really really really bad day, i havent played through mel's stuff so it might not make sense lol, little debbie donut sticks, mel if u squint, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 09:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8367433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyrejection/pseuds/friendlyrejection
Summary: brought to you by Little Debbie.i might continue this but stick it in a series, i dont have any *explicit* plans for it but hey who knows





	

Chell was excited to get to see her Dad in action. She was also excited about showing off her project to all the other smart people at his work. And she was very excited about her breakfast. Since she wasn't going to school, Chell and her Dad stopped at a gas station and he let her pick out whatever she wanted.

The morning was chilly with a blanket of clouds covering the whole world, and Chell pulled her knees into her hoodie. She probably shouldn't have picked out shorts to wear, even though they were here favorite. Her dad parked in the huge parking lot and held her hand as they walked to the nearest entrance. When one of the elevator doors opened, she was more than a little confused. They were standing in front of what looked like a diner booth shoved into a walk-in closet. Her father was none surprised and slid into the booth like he did this every day. Chell realized he did in fact do that everyday and quickly slid into the opposite side of the booth.

"Why's this elevator got a table 'innit?" she asked after they started descending.

"Because my work is so deep it takes twenty minutes to get down there."

"You take a twenty minute elevator ride every morning?"

"Mmmhm." he replied, taking a sip from his travel mug. Chell pulled out her breakfast from her backpack, careful not to disturb her project, and started unwrapping her Little Debbie Donut Sticks.

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"Mm, sometimes. But most days I bring some fun math problems to pass the time."

"Wow, what a nerd." Chell replied, trying to hide her cheeky, do nut filled smile. Her dad thought for a minute, a similar smile making its way over his face, then dramatically leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

"Well the elevator in the Washington Monument goes up five hundred feet in seventy seconds, and if you did some math you could figure out how deep the elevator goes. But only a nerd would be able to figure that out." He nonchalantly took a sip out of his travel mug, punctuated with a dramatic 'ah' at the end. He saw right through her. Chell was never one to turn down a challenge and this was no different. The gears in her head started turning, trying to visualize twenty Washington Monuments buried on top of one another. Then she went back into her bag and pulled out a few sheets of copy paper.

Together they worked through the problem, her dad helping her with converting meters into feet and showing her how to divide by decimals. She figured out that her dad had to travel 9600 feet underground to go to work and he confirmed that it was about 2954 meters deep, after rounding of course. Cool.

"Can we go one day?" she asked.

"Hm?"

"To Washington D.C."

"Mm. Maybe one day, but not until you're eighteen." Chell looked up from her donut sticks.

"What! Why?" Not even bothering to cover her mouth full of food.

"You can't go to D.C. unless you can vote; they won't let you into the city." he replied and took a sip of coffee, trying to hide his fib.

"Nuh uh!" Chell made a face.

"Yuh huh!" Her dad also made a face.

"Melanie went with her parents for summer break, she brought a picture of her at the Air and Space Museum to class." Her father knew Melanie's parents, and he knew they weren't there on vacation. Unless getting an up close and personal tour of the US Supreme Court was considered a vacation. The ethical man inside him tried to speak up, but the desperate man clocked in in the nose before he could say anything. 

"Alright, ya got me. What'll it be."

"I want cake for lunch."

"Or... I'll buy you a candy bar and you can eat the lunch I packed you?"

"Hmm. Fine." Satisfied with their deal, she went back to finishing her donut sticks.

For the rest of the elevator ride, Chell practiced her project presentation and her dad pretend to be famous scientists by holding a pencil with his lip and putting on a silly voice. _How do you hypothesize how copious amounts of radiation would affect the subject?_ asked Marie Curie in an accented falsetto. _Is there a way to breed a potato that may conduct a larger electrical current?_ asked Gregor Mendel. _How would zero gravity affect the conductivity of this vegetable?_ asked Sally Ride. A robotic voice interrupted Chell's giggling:

"Approaching Robotics lab, level 6."

While Chell excitedly packed her things, the feeling of being buried 9600 feet caught up with her father. The elevator slowed to a stop and his daughter hopped out of the booth and into the facility, eyes filled with naive curiosity. Her father downed the last of his coffee and followed her. The ethical man spoke, and the desperate man could do nothing but agree with him.

_Good people don't end up here._

**Author's Note:**

> brought to you by Little Debbie.  
> i might continue this but stick it in a series, i dont have any *explicit* plans for it but hey who knows


End file.
